Thursday, March 26, 2009

THE LATE President Milosevic's secret police chief and organiser of Serbdeath squads during the genocidal ethnic cleansing of disintegratingYugoslavia was the United States' top CIA agent in Belgrade, accordingto the independent Belgrade Radio B92.The claim that from 1992 until the end of the decade, Jovica Stanisic,head of Serbia's murderous DB Secret Police, was regularly informing hisCIA handlers of the thinking in Milosevic's inner circle has shocked theregion.

Stanisic is said to have loyally served his two masters for eight years.He is facing war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court atThe Hague.

In the terrifying years of Yugoslavia's internecine wars, he acted asthe willing "muscle" behind Milosevic's genocidal campaigns in Croatia,Kosovo and Bosnia, including Sebrenica.

According to the charges he faces, Stanisic was "part of a jointcriminal enterprise that included former Serbian president SlobodanMilosevic and other Serbian politicians".

Dermot Groome, The Hague's chief prosecutor, has specifically accusedhim of sending in the Serb Scorpion and Red Beret death squads into thestates seeking independence from Belgrade. Stanisic has pleaded notguilty.

Like in a Cold War spy thriller, Serbia's secret police chief met hisCIA handlers in safe houses, parks and boats on the river Sava to betrayhis master's action plans. He provided, it is claimed, information onthe whereabouts of Nato hostages, aided CIA operatives in their searchfor Muslim mass graves and helped the US set up secret bases in Bosniato monitor the implementation of the 1995 Dayton peace accord.

This has raised awkward questions for Washington. With Stanisicproviding chapter and verse of the genocidal slaughter of Croats,Bosnians and Albanians from the early 1990s, should President Clintonhave cut a deal with Milosevic at Dayton, Ohio, ending the Bosnian waron such equitable terms for the Serbs? Or, using Stanisic's evidence,should the Americans not have unmasked Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic,the then head of Republika Srpska, as genocidal war criminals anddemanded their surrender?

From his prison cell at The Hague, Stanisic countered the charges facinghim with an aide memoir portraying himself as "a person who had soughtto moderate Milosevic and had done a great deal to moderate the crisis".

In an unusual move, the CIA has submitted classified documents to thecourt that confirm Stanisic's "undercover operative role in helping tobring peace to the region and aiding the agency's work. He helped defusesome of the most explosive actions of the Bosnian war."

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, William Lofgren, hisoriginal CIA recruiter and handler, now retired, said: "Stanisicprovided valuable information from Milosevic's inner circle. But henever took money from the CIA, worked with the agency on operations ortook steps that he would have considered a blatant betrayal of hisboss."

Thus the judges at The Hague are having to judge a man who allegedlysent the Scorpion death squads to Srebrenica to "deal" with men and boysfleeing the UN-protected Muslim enclave, while working with the CIAtrying to end Milosevic's ethnic wars.The way the CIA apparently viewed their Belgrade "asset" is revealed inan interview with Balkan Insight, a little known south-east Europeanpublication.

The emerging picture is a quaint reflection from a hall of mirrors. GregMiller of the Los Angeles Times, writing about the links between the CIAand the Serb secret police chief, is quoted as saying: "As I said in theLAT story, the CIA do not see Stanisic as a choirboy. When you talk topeople who work in espionage, this is often the case.

"Because of the nature of that job, of that assignment, they are workingwith people who do not have unblemished records, it would be difficultfor them to be effective if they only worked with people who hadunblemished records.

"People in Belgrade who have been following the career of JovicaStanisic would say that this was a guy who was an expert in his field;he was a highly-trained and highly-effective spy. His motivation mayhave been that he wanted to know what the United States was up to.

"He did not believe that Milosevic was taking the country in the rightdirection - so he wanted to influence events. He saw himself as animportant guy who could pull strings behind the scenes to make thingshappen in Belgrade."

Stanisic apparently did so on his own terms, while trying to remain aloyal Serb. He did not succeed.

Now he is having to account for his actions as Milosevic's loyallieutenant at The Hague.

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Saturday, March 21, 2009

In the Vietnam War, the United States sprayed vast tracts of land with thechemical defoliant Agent Orange as part of a counter-insurgency strategyaimed at removing forest cover for Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces.Although the toxic dioxin released by Agent Orange was later blamed by USveterans’ groups and Vietnamese officials for illnesses and diseases thatstruck thousands of former US soldiers and upwards of four millionVietnamese citizens, the US Supreme Court recently refused to consider acase by pursued by Vietnamese plaintiffs against the manufacturers ofAgent Orange.

Four decades later, on the US-Mexico border, the US Border Patrol intendsto employ a chemical herbicide in order to eradicate stands of the Carrizocane, an invasive plant that grows as tall as 30 feet and providesconvenient cover for undocumented border crossers and smugglers. Thevariety of Carrizo cane that is common in the Laredo-Del Rio borderlandsis from the region of Valencia, Spain.

Possibly beginning next week, the US Border Patrol could commence aerialherbicide spraying along a slice of the Rio Grande between the twin citiesof Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. The experimental sprayingwould cover an area that stretches 1.1 miles between the Laredo RailroadBridge and Laredo Community College directly across from Mexico, saidRoque Sarinana, public affairs officer for the Border Patrol’s Laredosector.

In addition to aerial spraying of the herbicide imazapyr, the BorderPatrol will employ hand-cutting and mechanical methods that involveapplying the killer chemical at ground-level, Sarinana told FronteraNorteSur in an a phone interview. Getting rid of Carrizo cane shouldimprove the Border Patrol’s “line of sight up and down the river, ”Sarinana said.

Depending on weather conditions, the first dustings of imazapyr couldbegin March 25, Sarinana confirmed. “As of now, that’s the plan,” he said.

Concerned about risks to public health from possible herbicide spraydrift, runoff and leaching, officials from the city government ofneighboring Nuevo Laredo are steadfastly opposed to aerial spraying. “I’vealways been respectful of the law and sovereignty,” said Nuevo LaredoMayor Ramon Garza Barrios. “But herbicides that affect health in bothcountries can’t be sprayed.”

Mayor Garza’s stance is supported by other elected and appointed officialsin Mexico. On Thursday, March 19, the Tamaulipas State Legislature issueda statement requesting information about the proposed spraying from theMexican and US sections of the International Boundary and Water Commissionas well as Mexican federal agencies.

The zone targeted for spraying is across the Rio Grande from NuevoLaredo’s Hidalgo neighborhood and only hundreds of yards from the Mexicancity’s public water intake system.

Carlos Montiel Saeb, general manager for Nuevo Laredo’s water utility,said the Border Patrol advised his office to turn off water pumps a fewhours prior to spraying. “If there is no problem, why are they asking usto do this?” Montiel questioned.

Border Patrol spokesman Sarinana said he had not seen a written objectionfrom Mayor Garza, but stressed it did not mean other US officials had notreceived a letter. “This is all in the works, so we’ll see what happens,”Sarinana said, adding the Border Patrol plans on releasing a more detailedstatement about the future of the Carrizo cane project.

Opposition to the Border Patrol’s aerial spraying plans is likewisegrowing in Laredo, Texas. The two sides turned out to a March 16 meetingof the Laredo City Council in which elected officials narrowly approved bya controversial 5-4 vote an easement for the US government on cityproperty targeted for spraying.

Jay J. Johnson Castro, Sr., executive director of the Rio GrandeInternational Studies Center at Laredo Community College told FronteraNorteSur the planned aerial spraying caught residents off guard. Theaerial applications could threaten more than 1,000 bird and other speciesat a time when spring hatchings begin and migratory birds are still in thearea, Johnson said by phone from his office. The Border Patrol’s CarrizoCane Eradication Project abuts a nature trail running near the communitycollege, Johnson lamented.

“Nobody knows the impact of imazapyr,” Johnson contended. “It’s nodifferent than Agent Orange.” Citing the program’s environmentalassessment, Johnson said aerial spraying could eventually extend along astrip of river bank 16 miles upriver from the pilot project zone. Despitethe potential magnitude of the project, the Border Patrol did not gatherlocal input as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, Johnsoncharged.

Like virtually all chemical pest control agents, lack of complete publicinformation and multiple, contradictory reports surround the history ofimazapyr, a substance first registered in 1984 and currently manufacturedunder the trade name Habitat by the multinational BASF corporation.

A fact sheet prepared by the Washington State Department of Agriculturereported imazapyr was “low in toxicity to invertebrates and practicallynon-toxic to fish, birds and mammals.” Still, the fact sheet reportedimazapyr was highly mobile and persistent in soils.

In 2007, BASF spokesman Joel Vollmer told the press his company’s imazapyrproduct was widely used in wildlife refuges across the US and along thePecos River and its tributaries to control salt cedar, anothertroublesome, invasive plant species afflicting the US Southwest.

Public controversies over imazapyr applications have previously erupted inAlaska, California and Colombia, where experimental use of the herbicideto control illegal coca plantings was approved in 2000. A report on thechemical’s history developed for the non-governmental group AlaskaCommunity Action on Toxics said evidence existed that identified imazapyras a contaminant of soil, groundwater and surface water. Imazapyr alsocontains an acid that can irritate the eyes, skin and respiratory system,the report stated. According to the report’s authors, additional evidencelinked the herbicide to Parkinson’s Disease-like symptoms.

In developing its Carrizo cane aerial spraying project, the Border Patrolignored studies by Laredo Community College researchers that examineddifferent means of killing off the invasive species, Johnson charged.

“We are not opposed to the eradication of Carrizo,” he affirmed. “We thinkit has to go because it consumes about 500 gallons of water per meter andchokes out native vegetation.”

At the federal level, Department of Homeland Security-sponsoredresearchers earlier explored using biological controls, including wasps,to control Carrizo cane.

US officials have been urging a Carrizo cane eradication program for sometime. In 2007, US Representative Henry J. Cuellar (D-Tx) called the tall,thirsty plant a national security issue. Quoted in the news media, Rep.Cuellar said then-Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had been tothe border to get a first-hand look at the Carrizo cane foe. The LaredoCongressman assured the press officials were “looking at what is thefastest, safest way to address the effectiveness of addressing this issueof Carrizo.”

With the clock ticking, Johnson and a growing network of activists on bothsides of the border are lobbying high officials to prevent aerial sprayingbefore it occurs.

In an e-mail, longtime border environmental advocate and Sierra Clubactivist Bill Addington contended spraying would violate the 1983 La Pazaccord between the United States and Mexico that requires mutualnotification in the event of projects impacting the environment within a60 mile radius on either side of the border.

Meanwhile, word of the planned herbicide spraying is spreading fast in thetwo Laredos. Interviewed on the banks of the Rio Grande, a 26-year-oldHonduran migrant told the Mexican press he intended to cross into the USwithout papers before spraying commenced. “They say they will put poisoninto the river,” said Walter Hernandez. “That’s why I want to cross beforethen.”

Mario Garcia, a Mexican national who frequents the Rio Grande on the NuevoLaredo side with his sons, also expressed concern to a Mexican reporter.“I frequently come to fish in the area,” Garcia said. “With what degree ofconfidence are we going to eat a fish if we know it is contaminated?”

In response to an article about the imazapyr controversy in the LaredoMorning Times, several readers sent pointed e-mails to the newspublication that proposed solutions to the Carrizo cane issue or, as isincreasingly the case with border news web sites, used the immediate topicat hand to vent ideological broadsides on issues of race, the environmentand US-Mexico relations.

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Censored News is published by censored journalist Brenda Norrell. A journalist for 27 years, Brenda lived on the Navajo Nation for 18 years, writing for Navajo Times, AP, USA Today, Lakota Times and other American Indian publications. After being censored and then terminated by Indian Country Today in 2006, she began the Censored Blog to document the most censored issues. She currently serves as human rights editor for the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report at the Hague and contributor to Sri Lanka Guardian, Narco News and CounterPunch. She was cohost of the 5-month Longest Walk Talk Radio across America, with Earthcycles Producer Govinda Dalton in 2008: www.earthcycles.net/COPYRIGHTS All material is copyrighted by the author or photographer. Please contact each contributor for reprint permission. brendanorrell@gmail.comAudios may not be sold or used for commercial purposes.

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